Fic - Going Home: Chapter Three
Title: Going Home
Author: Jayne Leigh
Matt Albie has a family emergency and has to go back home.
Rating: R
Characters or Pairing: Matt, Danny, Matt/Harriet
Disclaimer: I don't own them!
Going Home - Chapter One
Going Home - Chapter Two
Going Home: Chapter Three
Matt walked into the bedroom, 20 minutes later and found Harriet unpacking.
“Hey, how is she doing?” She asked, when she saw Matt.
He shrugged. “Not great. She doesn't know what to do.”
“She must be going crazy.” Harriet replied.
“Yeah, she wants to go out and look for her but the police have said it’s better if she stays here in case she turns up.”
“What are the police doing?” Harriet questioned.
“They're talking to people who might have seen her leaving school...They’re searching the forest because someone saw a girl matching Megan’s description heading that way.” He told her, sitting down on the bed. “They think she might have gone off to play and got lost.”
“She'll be okay.” Harriet said softly, kneeling behind him and starting to massage his shoulders.
He moaned quietly and let his eyes drift shut as she did.
“Oh sorry...” Beth said as she walked into the room. “I'll uh... I'll just leave...”
“No, Mom it's fine.” Matt stated just as Harriet stopped and stood up again.
“I just came to let you know you're sandwiches are done.”
“Okay, thanks...we'll be right down.” Matt told her.
“No rush.” She smiled at them before turning and leaving.
XxXxX
That night, Matt paced around the bedroom. He had been there for over 7 hours now and there was still no news. Sophie hadn't left her room; she just sat staring out of the window. He had tried to talk to her and kept telling her that Megan would be fine, but it was hard when he starting to panic himself. Nathan and him went out that afternoon and walked around the forest, hoping they'd be able to find her but there was nothing. He just wished he could do something.
“You're Mom wanted me to let you know that dinner is ready.” Harriet said walking into the room.
“I'm not really hungry.”
“Matthew, you’ve got to eat something.” She told him. “Besides, if you don't your Mom is going to worry.”
He sighed. “I guess you're right. I'll be right down, I'm going to try and get Soph, to come down too.”
“Okay.” She smiled slightly at him before heading back downstairs.
“Dinner's ready.” Matt said softly as he walked into Sophie's room, but got no reply. “Come on, let’s go and eat.”
“I'm not really in the mood.” She whispered.
“I don't care.” Matt told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her up.
“Matt!”
“I'll carry you down there in a minute.” He told her. “Look, none of us really want to eat but, we need too... just come down and sit with everyone, you never know, it might help.”
“Fine, if that's what you want.” She reluctantly agreed.
When they walked into the dining room everyone was already sat around the table waiting for them.
“Oh look at my baby brother!” Becca stood up and wrapped her arms around him. She had only just arrived because she had to collect her sons, Adam and Samuel from school.
“Hey, you look great.” He said, hugging her back and then looked at his nephews. “Hey guys, how's it going?”
“Okay, I guess...” Adam, who was 15 shrugged.
“Did you bring us any presents?” 10 year old, Sammy asked.
“Samuel!” Becca's husband Michael glared at him, as Becca hugged Sophie.
“Why don't we all just sit down and eat.” Beth suggested.
“Good idea.” Matt agreed, taking a seat next to Harriet.
They all started to eat in silence; Matt didn't like it when it was silent.
“Aren’t Naomi and the boys joining us?” Matt asked Nathan, realising his family wasn't there. Nathan also had two sons; first there was Jake who was 17 years old and then Joshua who was 14 years old.
“No, she's taken them down to see her family but they're coming back as soon as they can.”
“Oh...” Matt replied.
He didn't know what else to say. He didn't want to upset anyone by talking about Megan and what was happening but then he didn't want them to think he didn't care about it.
“So, when are you going to get married and have a family?” Beth asked, causing him to choke on his food.
“What?”
“You're 35 now, its time!”
“Mom...” He sighed.
“What? You're smart, successful, good looking, famous.... you must have tones of woman throwing themselves at you.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Tell him Harriet, he's a great catch isn't he.”
“Don't answer that!” Matt told her.
“She has a point, Matt.” Becca joined in. “I mean, I hear even Danny is going to be a father soon.”
“So? It's not even his kid!” Matt replied.
“That makes it even sweeter!” She claimed.
“I find it really disturbing that you’ve got a crush on my best friend!” Matt looked at her.
“I don't have a crush on him!” She claimed.
“Yeah right!”
“Doesn't the idea of Danny settling down make you want to do it too?” Beth asked.
“No... why would it?” Matt asked, starting to get frustrated by all the questions.
“Because you two do everything together.” Nathan stated, noticing how annoyed Matt was getting and wanted to tease his little brother.
“No we don't.”
The phone starting to ring caused everyone to fall silent and Beth jumped up, answering it. Hoping it would be some good news.
“Hello...uh...oh yes... yes, okay.” She held the phone out to Matt. “It's Alex Jackson.”
“Oh right, great.” Matt took the phone. Alex was an old friend from school who Matt had called earlier to ask for some help.
They all listened to the phone conversation, knowing that whenever Matt went out with Alex, he got into trouble.
“What did he want?” His Dad asked when he hung up the phone.
“Oh, nothing just wanted to know if I wanted to go and grab a beer.” Matt told them. “I won't be long.”
“You're going now?” Beth frowned. “What about your dinner.”
“I'm not really hungry, save it and I'll eat it later.” He told her, kissing her cheek.
“Where you meeting him?” Nathan asked.
“Uh, just at our normal bar.” Matt replied. “I'll see you later.”
He walked out before anyone could ask any other questions.
“He's up to something.” Becca claimed.
“Who's Alex?” Harriet asked.
“Someone he went to school with... He causes a lot of trouble.” Nathan answered, standing up.
“You're not leaving too!” Beth looked at him.
“I'm going to go down there and find out what's going on.” He told her. “I don't want Matt getting into trouble.”
“I'll come too.” Harriet stood up.
“No, its better if you stay here.” Nathan told her.
She sighed and sat back down.
XxXxX
Matt followed Alex into a bar that he had never been in to before. The reason he was there was because Alex had seen Marcus Dannally there. Dannally was Megan's father. He had been dating Sophie, but when she told him she was pregnant, he didn't want anything to do with her.
Matt hated him... he didn't like him before he had broken his sister's heart either; there was something not right about him. The reason Matt wanted to talk to him was because a few weeks ago, his Mom had told him that Dannally had called Sophie up out of the blue, but she wouldn't tell anyone what they’d talked about. Matt guessed that it was about Megan. So he was here to make sure he had nothing to do with her going missing.
“Be cool...” Alex told him as they approached Dannally, who had his back to them and was leaning across a pool table.
Matt didn't listen to Alex, instead he grabbed hold of Dannally’s shirt, pulling him up and then slamming him against the wall.
“What the hell...” He started but his eyes widened when he saw who was attacking him. “Matt, you're back.”
“Where is she?!”
“Who? Sophie? I haven't seen...”
“Megan!” Matt corrected him, pulling him forwards, before slamming him harder back against the wall, causing him to wince.
“I don't know what you're talking about!” He claimed. “I haven't seen her! I've never seen her!”
“You better not be lying to me!”
“Oh come on, Matt... You know I want nothing to do with her... remember, you and your brother beat me up when you found out.”
“She's gone missing. Don't you even care?!”
“Why would I?”
The next thing Matt knew, they were fighting. He didn't think that Dannally had anything to do with Megan disappearing but he was still pissed at him for messing around with his sister and not being there for his niece. It wasn't long before they were being pulled apart.
Matt sighed when he realised the guy that was pulling him away was a cop, whilst the barman had grabbed hold of Dannally.
XxXxX
Harriet was sat in the bedroom waiting for Matt to come back. Nathan had returned over an hour ago and said that Matt wasn't at the bar; he said he would be at. She was starting to worry about him and tried to take her mind off it. She had already called Danny to let him know what was going on. She phoned Luke too and they had another fight, she decided that once she got back she'd end it with him. She looked down when her cell started to ring, she frowned when she didn't recognise the number.
“Hello?”
“Harriet, it's me.”
“Matt, where are you?”
“Uh, well...umm that's sort of complicated.”
“What is that meant to mean?”
“I'm down at the police station.”
“What? Why? Have they found anything?”
“No, I've...I've been arrested.”
“What?!”
“Look, you can't tell my family but I've left my wallet at home so I can't pay the bail to get out.” He told her. “You need to bring it down here and get me out.”
“You went out for a beer but didn't take your wallet?” She questioned.
Matt sighed; he had no intention on spending any money whilst he was out. “Do we really need to talk about this now?”
“Okay fine, I'll be down as soon as I can.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
“I know.” He replied. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
TBC